The present invention relates generally to a frame for an infant swing and, more particularly, to a frame that provides unrestricted access to the infant positioned on the swing seat while providing an aesthetically pleasing and efficiently operable swing apparatus.
Baby swings are used extensively by infant caregivers to soothe and to comfort the children. An infant swing consists primarily of a seat that securely holds the infant in a position elevated off the floor and a frame apparatus that supports the seat and allows the seat to move in a reciprocal manner, typically in a forward and rearward direction though some infant seats provide a side to side swinging motion.
The first infant swings consisted of a seat suspended from a frame that was formed with a support structure that extended over top of the infant and was supported by transversely opposed support legs that hold the overhead support structure in the elevated position. This overhead support structure restricted access to the child positioned in the seat as the support structure presented a physical barrier directly above the child. Such an infant swing can be seen in U.S. Design Pat. No. D345,777, issued on Apr. 4, 1994, to Daniel Pinch, et al. Not only is the overhead support structure a barrier to accessing the child in the swing from above the child, but the support structure also presented a barrier to viewing the infant.
As a solution to the barrier presented by the overhead support structure, the “open top” infant swing was developed. As can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,033, issued to Louis Kohus and James Mariol on Apr. 18, 1989, the overhead structural support has been eliminated to provide an open access to the child in the seat from above. However, the child can be capable of grasping either of the transversely opposing support legs, particularly as the child is swinging back and forth between the support legs. Contact between the swinging child and one of the support legs can result in injury to the child. Furthermore, the child can potentially grab one of the support legs and pull his or herself forwardly to become dislodged from the seat, particularly if the child has not been properly secured within the seat by a safety harness.
The aforementioned open top infant swing evolved in a manner to eliminate the frame structure, i.e. the support legs, positioned forwardly of the swinging seat to provide an “open side” swing frame configuration for an infant swing. Such an open side infant swing can be found in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,033, issued to Kohus and Mariol on Apr. 18, 1989. In the Kohus and Mariol patent, the infant swing is provided with both an open top and an open side structural configuration to provide the capability of viewing and accessing the child within the seat from substantially any position forwardly of the seat.
The swinging motion of most baby swings commercially available is similar to that of a pendulum that pivots from above and to the sides of the seat. Although this swinging motion can be maintained by a mechanical spring-operated swing mechanism, the swinging motion in most modern infant swings is maintained, typically, by a small electric motor located adjacent one of the seat pivots supported by the frame structure. The power for this electric motor is typically an array of dry cell batteries located within the same plastic housing as the electric motor. Examples of battery operated motors to affect the swinging motion of the infant seat from a frame support can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,113, issued to Daniel Mitchell, et al on Jun. 11, 1996, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,545, issued to Daniel Pinch, et al on Nov. 10, 1998.
Although such an arrangement of placing the dry cell batteries within the same covered housing as the electric motor is convenient for the wiring of the power source to the electric motor, this arrangement has several disadvantages as well. Locating the placement of the dry cell batteries above the swing seat, exposes the child positioned within the seat to being impacted by a dropped battery when the caregiver is forced to change the batteries to replace depleted batteries with fresh ones. Dry cell batteries are manufactured with acid within the battery container. Sometimes that acid can escape from the battery which would also present an injury risk to a child positioned within the seat. The placement of the battery array within the same housing as the electric motor also increases the height of the center of gravity of the swing, thus increasing the possibility of the swing tipping over. Lastly, since the spatial requirements of an electric motor and battery array are greater than for just the electric motor alone, the size of the housing needed to contain the electric motor and the battery array detracts from the ability to view the child.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a swing frame that can provide an open top and open side configuration for improved access to physically reach the child, as well as to improve visibility of the child while seated within the infant seat.